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Braves 9, Dodgers 3

Not much to say about this one, except that the Dodgers still can’t beat top-of-the-line starting pitchers — Jair Jurrjens stuffed them for a run on five hits over six innings — and Chad Billingsley no-hit the Braves through four, ran into trouble in the fifth and then couldn’t stop the bleeding. Dodgers fall to 44-46 and back into second place, a game behind the Snakes. … Here’s Jason Schmidt’s line for Las Vegas tonight against Tucson, if anyone cares: four innings, five hits, three runs (two earned), one walk, two strikeouts, one HR. He threw 59 pitches. I THINK he was supposed to throw 70, so I’ll have to find out tomorrow why it was cut short. My guess is it was 70 pitches or four innings, whichever came first.

“…Martin has nine errors overall this season and eight as a catcher, the most of any catcher in the major leagues. He also has thrown out 14% of opposing baserunners, down from 30% last year.”

Brooklyn Dodger

Although I didn’t mention it, that’s part of my reasoning for proposing that the Dodgers consider acquiring a premium catcher with the idea of moving Martin to 3B. I realize that acquiring such a catcher would be expensive, and maybe not even possible. However, it’s worth looking into. The upside for Martin would be the preservation of whatever speed hasn’t been eroded by catching, and the avoidance of all the minor little nicks that catchers accumulate during a season. Catchers also tend to get worn down as the season progresses, and their hitting suffers. Martin could avoid that also.

And I’m not proposing that it necessarily be done this season. It’s just something that I think should be a part of their thinking if the opportunity arises.

fitzpatrick

Hey Tony,
Did I miss something? Why is Kershaw no longer in the rotation? Is this a precautionary measure?

Yeager

Ken Rosenthal reports that the Dodgers front office is viewed by other front offices as dysfunctional. And he says if Frank McCourt isn’t going to allow Ned Colletti to do his job then he should let him go. He’s right. Who’s going to negotiate with Colletti knowing that he doesn’t actually have the power to negotiate.

Rosenthal also says the Sabathia trade didn’t necessarily include Matt Kemp. Tony’s source says it did. Either way, it has to be the GM’s trade to make, and if you don’t trust him, let him go.

Hope Mattingly makes a difference, he might be the only change made. (Tony, you got scooped by the Times! Hang with ‘em)

TeamHasHoles

I’d love to see McCourt be the GM. He should be the one who’s accountable if he doesn’t want to let the BASEBALL PEOPLE make the BASEBALL DECISIONS. The Dodgers’ franchise is on a slow and steady slide downward in both performance and accountability.

Buddy

fitzpatrick,
You are really out of the loop. You might want to explore the Jacksonville Suns roster.

Yeager,
The perception of the Dodgers organization being dysfunctional is not new. Just look at all the staff turnover he’s made on the operations side, not necessarily for the better. Yes, Colletti is a puppet for McCourt.

TeamHasHoles

Frank McCourt = Steinbrenner West Next thing you know he’ll be sending lineup cards to Torre.

scanman33

Hopefully, McCourt is finally listening to White and Ng and tired of Colletti trying to spend and veteran his way out of everything. The writing is on the wall for Neddy folks.

scanman33

McCourt has the right and duty to intervene if Colletti is making self-preserving moves that hurt the long-term well-being of his franchise.

scanman33

McCourt has the right and duty to intervene if Colletti is making self-preserving moves that hurt the long-term well-being of his franchise.

Yeager

I’ve always thought calling McCourt “The Parking Lot Attendant” was a little mean-spirited, but now I think it may be too kind. A false start or two is to be expected, but five years of incompetence “is what it is.”

Even the Torre hiring had the look of an owner making a PR splash more than a GM hiring someone to manage his young team. I admire Joe, but at this point in his career, this doesn’t seem like the proper job for him.

I’m not a Ned basher, (and now that we know he’s not really being allowed to do his job then it’s pretty hard to judge him) but if McCourt is really listening more to Logan White as Rosenthal suggests, then Logan White should be the GM.

scanman33

Colletti has been allowed to do his job. That’s why McCourt is interceding.

Yeager

I’m the guy always defending Ned, now I just typed “Logan White should be the GM!” What a wacky season.

Yeager

I’m the guy always defending Ned, now I just typed “Logan White should be the GM!” What a wacky season.

Yeager

– and repeating myself.
(hint) don’t reload the page after you post

scanman33

I learned the double post thing myself a few minutes ago.

Colletti has too many disasters on his record to expect to keep his job. He weighs mythical and antiquated notions like “Knowing how to win” over talent. He’s given away players like Navarro and Jackson for nothing. He got nothing of value for Joel Guzman, who still had value when he was jettisoned. He trades for Ethier then spends $88 mil on Pierre, Gonzalez and Jones to block him and Kemp from playing. He gave away Betemit, who would be awfully useful right now given Furcal’s injury and Kent’s need to take 2 days a week off. He threw a hissy-fit when Drew opted out and signed Garciaparra and Pierre. He spent $56 mil on Schmidt and Wolf and got less than 20 starts from them. When called on his moves, what does he do? He throws other people in the organization under the bus and blames them for the moves.

Outside of trading for Maddux (who he promptly allowed to walk) and signing Kuroda, what good has he done? What legitimate claim does he have to keep his job?

Yeager

All good points scanman, I’m coming around.
Not dealing with Drew may have made him feel good, but it was foolish, he’s an odd guy but a good rbi man, which the team needed. Drew had the right to do what he did, being peeved about it wasn’t good business.

TeamHasHoles

I’m no fan of Ned Colletti’s to be sure, but I think you’re reaching with some of your criticism. The Ethier criticism is hilarious, he leads the team in HRs, is 3rd in total bases on the team, a case can be made that he’s the 3rd or 4th best offensive player on this team, is a solid fielder and considering he was acquired for a scrub and a hot head who at the time was hitting .213, had only recently threatened fans in right field with a plastic bottle, had called a teammate a racist and was hurt…not bad value actually. Joel Guzman has done NOTHING and Navarro and Jackson didn’t have huge value at the time, especially Jackson who only now is achieving great things years later. Proctor for Betemit is a wash, the guy was a switch hitter who couldn’t hit a lick from the right side of the plate.

His signings are where he’s shined! Focus on the signings. the trades haven’t been complete disasters as you say.

Yeager

I think scanman was saying the Ethier trade was a good one, but then Ned proceeded to block Ethier with Pierre and Jones. And my memory is that at the time Guzman was still considered a top prospect, so the return (half a season of Lugo) seemed low. Won’t argue with you on Navarro and Jackson. Was never a huge Betemit fan, but at least he hit the ball out every now and then. Hopefully Proctor will come back and be productive, I’d agree that at this point it’s a wash.

El Lay Dave

Of course Frank McCourt would have to approve certain kinds of trades. Like anyone other upper-middle manager, Ned Colletti has a BUDGET. The 2008 payroll is likely at the upper limit. The rumored Sabathia trade would have added on several million dollars to this year’s budget without shedding significant dollars. In order to exceed his budget, Colletti needs his boss’s approval, and his boss is McCourt. The boss signs off on the budget increase if the justification can be made. McCourt didn’t like the justification: “the players didn’t line up”, so he deep-sixed it. This is normal business practice.

Signing Luis Gonzalez did more to block Ethier than Pierre’s signing did. Pierre was more of a signing to block another team from getting him as much as to add speed to the lineup. Then, although the Dodgers are loathe to pay for power they further block Ethier/Kemp when they sign Jones and they look really bad for doing it.

Ned’s wasted a lot of McCourt’s money. But I’m a firm believer that almost anything this organization does with a few exceptions turns to crap. Trading or not trading will come back to bite this team…. McCourt’s management style is suspect.

fitzpatrick

Thanks Buddy,
I am out of the loop, but I have a good excuse…I was in Cuba working on a documentary about baseball and had very little access to info about the boys in blue.

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